• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.79 -94
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• 2024

Over the past few decades, new psychoactive substances (NPS) have become prevailing. With the widespread emergence of NPS, phenethylamines (PEAs) have become one of the groups abused most which PEAs, along with other stimulants, make up the majority of stimulants. When determining the NPS, the methods for screening and confirmation are crucial which assesses the reliability of testimony. In this study, a set of GC/MS methods employing two derivatizing agents for determining 76 target PEAs in urine was established and further applied for authentic sample analysis. Five PEAs (N,N-DMA, PMMA, 4-CA, amphetamine, and methamphetamine) with contents over their LLOQs were detected in thirteen of the twenty tested samples. In order to compare the result from the GC/MS methods with the previously established LC-MS/MS method, Cohen's kappa coefficient and McNemar's test were applied for statistical analysis. Perfect agreement between GC/MS and LC-MS/MS techniques for determining target PEAs is demonstrated by the Kappa coefficient for each of the five detected targets.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.25-32
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the most effective and comprehensible method for the assessment of resting scapular position (RSP) and pain level (PL) in unilateral shoulder pain (USP). Fifty volunteers with USP were involved in the study. Resting scapular assessments of the patients' pain sides (PS) and non-pain sides (NPS) were evaluated. The assessment tools for RSP are: 1) sternal notch (SN) to coracoid process (CP) distance 2) 3rd thoracic spinous process (T3S) to posterolateral angle of acromion (PLA) distance 3) scapular index 4) 8th thoracic spinous process (T8S) to inferior angle of scapular (IAS) distance 5) supine measurement of pectoralis minor (PM) distance 6) standing PM distance 7) PM index (PMI) and 8) PM pain. The paired t-test was used to compare PS and NPS in RSP. Pearson correlation analysis was used to confer a relationship between the PL and RSP. The results of this study indicated that: 1) all the variables between the PS and NPS for RSP were statistically significant(p<.05) and 2) the PMI showed the strongest relationship in the correlation analysis between RSP and PL(p<.05, r=.37). Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between PMI and PL and it is suggested that an assessment tool using PMI to diagnose shoulder pain would be clinically effective.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.1-11
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• 2010

Generation and transportation of runoff and pollutant loads within watershed generated eutrophication at Daecheong reservoir. To improve water quality at Daecheong reservoir, the best management practices should be developed and applied at upper watersheds for water quality improvement at downstream areas. In this study, two small watersheds of upper Daecheong reservoir were selected. The Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) model has been widely used for the estimation of the direct runoff worldwide. To apply the L-THIA ArcView GIS model was evaluated for direct runoff and water quality estimation at small watershed. And the Web-based Hydrograph Analysis Tool (WHAT) was used for direct runoff separating from total flow. As a result, the $R^2$ (Coefficient of determination) value and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient value for direct runoff comparison at An-nae watershed were 0.81 and 0.71, respectively. And the $R^2$ value and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient value at Wol-oe were 0.95 and 0.93. The $R^2$ value of BOD, TOC, T-N and T-P at An-nae watershed were BOD 0.94, TOC 0.81, T-N 0.94 and T-P 0.89. And the $R^2$ value of BOD, TOC, T-N and T-P at Wol-oe watershed were BOD 0.80, TOC 0.93, T-N 0.86 and T-P 0.65. The result that estimated pollutant loadings using the L-THIA ArcView GIS model reflected well the measured pollutant loadings except for T-P in Wol-oe watershed. With L-THIA ArcView GIS model, the direct runoff and non-point pollutant (NPS) loadings in the watershed could be analyzed through simple input data such as daily rainfall, land uses, and hydrologic soil group.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제59권4호
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• pp.493-502
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• 2021

We prepared and investigated a biosynthesized nanoparticulate system with high adsorption and release capacity of letrozole. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized using olive leaf extract. Cysteine was capped AgNPs to increase the adsorption capacity and suitable interaction between nanoparticles and drug. Morphology and size of nanoparticles were confirmed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanoparticles were spherical with an average diameter of less than 100 nm. Cysteine capping was successfully confirmed by Fourier transform infrared resonance (FTIR) spectroscopy and elemental analysis (CHN). Also, the factors of letrozole adsorption were optimized and the linear and non-linear forms of isotherms and kinetics were studied. Confirmation of the adsorption data of letrozole by cysteine capped nanoparticles in the Langmuir isotherm model indicated the homogeneous binding site of modified nanoparticles surface. Furthermore, the adsorption rate was kinetically adjusted to the pseudo-second-order model, and a high adsorption rate was observed, indicating that cysteine coated nanoparticles are a promising adsorbent for letrozole delivery. Finally, the kinetic release profile of letrozole loaded modified nanoparticles in simulated gastric and intestinal buffers was studied. Nearly 40% of letrozole was released in simulated gastric fluid with pH 1.2, in 30 min and the rest of it (60%) was released in simulated intestinal fluid with pH 7.4 in 10 h. These results indicate the efficiency of the cysteine capped AgNPs for adsorption and release of drug letrozole for breast cancer therapy.

• Membrane Journal
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.246-251
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• 2019

Facilitated transport membranes using silver nanoparticles as carriers for olefin/paraffin separation have been interested. $AgBF_4$ has been used as a precursor of silver nanoparticles in previous studies. However, relatively expensive $AgBF_4$ is not suitable for commercialization, and thus, PEBAX-5513/AgNPs (precursor: $AgClO_4$)/7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) composite membranes were prepared using silver nanopaticles with relatively inexpensive $AgClO_4$ precursors. Composite membranes of various compositions were prepared for PEBAX-5513/AgNPs/TCNQ composites, but no separation performance was observed. As a result of FT-IR analysis, it was confirmed that silver nanoparticles were formed in the PEBAX-5513 polymer and the surface of Ag nanoparticles was polarized by TCNQ, but the formed silver nanoparticles were not stabilized. From these results, it was concluded that the anion of the precursor plays an important role in the olefin/paraffin separation.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.182-187
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• 2020

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been manufactured in recent years and widely used in various fields. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which occur in AgNPs, destroy cell membranes. It is widely accepted that ROS generated in this manner inhibit microorganisms growth and causes toxic effects, However, it does not affect cell membranes directly but positively affects growth in plants with cell walls. The nanoball used in this experiment is a new material that generates ROS stably and is used in aqueous solution. Results of this study indicate a 30% increase in yield of Ginseng mixed with culture soil. The analysis of soil condition after cultivation showed that the possibility of repetitive cultivation in soil mixed with Nanoball was high. This suggests that Nanoball is an antimicrobial active material due to the microbial / extermination effect of pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, there may be potential applications in agricultural cultivation sites as a repetitive cultivation technology that reuses soil.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.269-274
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• 2019

$^{64}Cu$ is a favorable radionuclide in nuclear medicine applications because of its unique characteristics such as three types of decay (electron capture, ${\beta}^-$ and ${\beta}^+$) and 12.7 h half-life. Production of $^{64}Cu$ by irradiation $^{nat}Cu$ and $^{nat}CuNPs$ in Tehran Research Reactor was investigated. The characteristics of copper nanoparticles were investigated with SEM, TEM and XRD analysis. The cross section of $^{63}Cu(n,{\gamma})^{64}Cu$ reaction was done with TALYS-1.8 code. The activity value of $^{64}Cu$ was calculated with theoretical approach and MCNPX-2.6 code. The results were compared with related experimental results which showed good adaptations between them.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.202-208
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• 2019

Objective: Suicide has recently become an important social problem. Thus, we analyzed prescription drugs that cause suicidal ideation. Methods: Of 156 drugs on the the Minister of Food and Drug Safty (MFDS) EZ-Drug site that had "suicide" listed as a side effect, 78 had "suicide" listed as a warning or contraindication; those 78 drugs were analyzed using data from the 2016 Health Insurance and Review and Assessment Services National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS). Results: 51 "suicide risk" drugs was identified. Of all patients, 5.2% had received such drugs. The prescription rate was 0.8% of all prescriptions, accounting for 1.6% of all prescription days. From logistic regression analysis, the prescription rate for the drugs was approximately 1.1 times higher for women than for men. With regard to age, the prescription rate for patients 66 years and older was 15.5 times higher than those for patients 25-years and lower. With regard to medical departments, the prescription rates in psychiatry and dermatology departments were 8.1 times higher and 0.6 times lower than those in internal medicine departments, respectively. With regard to region, the prescription rates in Daegu and Jeju were 1.3 times higher and 0.79 times lower than those in Seoul, respectively. Conclusion: Drug-induced suicidal behavior is possible, and therefore efforts are needed to prevent it.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.304-313
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• 2018

Agricultural land reclamation in Saemangeum tidal land project is mostly planned to be completed by 2020. Irrigation water for the land is required to be prepared by that time. However, water quality for the irrigation sources is barely meet the target concentration. This paper described the reduction effect of and policy consideration for best management practices (BMPs) which were fertilizer prescription by soil test (SO#1), mixed application of SO#1 and 3 (SO#2), drainage gate control (SO#3), time-release fertilizer application (SO#4), and control (CT). Reduction of paddy runoff was relatively higher in SO#3 (25%) and SO#1 (27%) while lower in SO#4 (9%) and SO#2 (7%) than that in CT. In addition, farmers promised to follow the BMP guidelines but they didn't because of the several problems caused for the BMPs implementation. Thus, it recommended developing an automated control of irrigation gate and paddy water depth and supporing farmers for NPS pollution control and irrigation water reduction.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.258-269
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• 2022

Background and Objectives: Currently, safety pharmacological tests for the central nervous system depend on animal behavioral analysis. However, due to the subjectivity of behavioral analysis and differences between species, there is a limit to appropriate nervous system toxicity assessment, therefore a new neurotoxicity assessment that can simulate the human central nervous system is required. Methods and Results: In our study, we developed an in vitro neurotoxicity assessment focusing on neuronal function. To minimize the differences between species and fast screening, hiPSC-derived neurons and a microelectrode array (MEA) that could simultaneously measure the action potentials of the neuronal networks were used. After analyzing the molecular and electrophysiological characters of our neuronal network, we conducted a neurotoxicity assessment on neurotransmitters, neurotoxicants, illicit drugs, and new psychoactive substances (NPS). We found that most substances used in our experiments responded more sensitively to our MEA-based neurotoxicity assessment than to the conventional neurotoxicity assessment. Also, this is the first paper that evaluates various illicit drugs and NPS using MEA-based neurotoxicity assessment using hiPSC-derived neurons. Conclusions: Our study expanded the scope of application of neurotoxicity assessment using hiPSC-derived neurons to NPS, and accumulated evaluation data of various toxic substances for hiPSC-derived neurons.